NA President orders suspended members to leave House, with members barred from proceedings until their statements are submitted
ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended 159 members of parliament and provincial assemblies for failing to submit declarations of their assets and liabilities.
The suspension affects 32 members of the National Assembly, 50 members of the Punjab Assembly, 33 of the Sindh Assembly, 28 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and seven members of the Balochistan Assembly. Nine senators were also suspended, and the suspended members will not be able to participate in the work of the parliamentary or provincial assemblies until their membership is restored.
Prominent political leaders who have been suspended include Balochistan National Party leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
From the Pakistan People’s Party, Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani and Ali Musa Gilani were suspended from the National Assembly. National Assembly MPs Saira Afzal Tarar and Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto were also suspended.
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From the Sindh Assembly, Awais Party president Qadir Shah, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and Saeed Ghani were also suspended.
In the Senate, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Fauzia Arshad, Abid Sher Ali and Musaddiq Malik, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Murad Saeed and Noor ul Haq Qadri were suspended.
From the Sindh Assembly, Speaker Awais Qadir Shah, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, Agha Shehbaz Durrani, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman of Jamaat-e-Islami and Saeed Ghani were suspended.
The ECP says the affected members will not be reinstated until they submit their asset and liability declarations.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has ordered the suspended members to leave the House, saying their presence will not be recorded nor will they be allowed to sit.
Under Pakistan’s electoral laws, all elected representatives are required to submit annual declarations of their assets and liabilities to the ECP. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in automatic suspension of membership.
